Judaism and Greek Culture

“Art, like morality, means drawing a line somewhere.” –

Oscar Wilde

The Order of the Greek Temple

• Greek temples were Doric, Ionic or, during Hellenistic and early Roman times, Corinthian

• These names refer to the column order of the temple, which the Greeks were usually careful not to mix

Speaking of Order . . .

The Exactness of the Greeks

And in Greek Sculpture . . .

• Like the Greek column, the body was divided into seven

• The head to body ratio was 1:7

Polykleitos established the canon for Greek sculpture in the 5th century BCE

Optical Corrections

Entasis of the Doric Column

Order

The Final Product

Greek Mathematical Principles and Notions of Beauty are Still With Us

Today

So What Was the Problem?

Wisdom of Solomon, 13, late 2nd or early 1st century BCE work

• For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; . ". . but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air or "the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the "luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the "world. . . . Yet these men are little to be blamed, for "perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find "him.

Hammath Tiberias B

Roman Floor Mosaic, depicting Helios, the sun god, who represented Sunday

Helios (or Helius) was first a Greek god

Athenian red-figure krater, 5th

century BCE

Prohibitions

Mishnah Avodah Zara 3:1• The Rabbis forbid any

image “that has in its hand a staff or a bird or a globe (kadur)”

• Circumcision is the oldest identifying feature of the Jews and was a ritual that was threatened during Hellenistic times, when nudity was so popular.

Greco-Roman Elements vs. Jewish Elements

“Art, like morality, means drawing a line somewhere” – Oscar Wilde

“Art, like Modern Orthodoxy, means drawing a line somewhere” –

Today’s Presentation